I think he was referring to the companies using the product which relies on IE6, rather than the developer of said product.

For a small business using say, an IE6 only CMS... that still represents a big deal in terms of investment for them and maybe they don't see value in replacing it.

I'm sure you enjoy being on the cutting edge but not everyone is set up to be so flexable; The people this might affect probably wouldn't even know it's coming until it's pushed out and they can't do their job

I'm guessing that Microsoft will allow those using WSUS (or perhaps group policy) to opt out as they created this compatibility mess in the first place *shakes fist*.

Exactly. Its easy to say that they should just update their software. But there are probably companies who have many millions of dollars tied up in their business process that hinges on IE 6. And while hopefully all of them are in the process of upgrading, its not an overnight process. For Microsoft to just announce something so drastic like this out of the blue, is just asinine on their part. Thats assuming that this really will be a "no choice update whether you like it or not thing", and not a "no, really, update IE, please?" thing.